This’ll probably sound callous, but I’ll bet militaries aren’t exactly in a hurry to recruit the disabled because in time of war, they’ll almost certainly have enough disabled members of their own to fill any non-combat posts that they’re qualified for.
Some militaries return casualties to service at a high rate, while others tend not to. The US hasn’t been notable for it, because the manpower resources are large. WWII Germany on the other hand, returned something like 60-70% of casualties to some kind of military service after they recovered from their wounds.
I’m glad I read the whole thread. I had the same piece on my clipboard and was getting ready to make the same exact point. I would venture that if you went back to the Civil War you would find similiar stories as well.
I am always blown away by the PC crowd. Is there really anybody on this thread who thinks people in the following classes should be generally admitted into the military:
People in wheelchairs.
The blind.
The deaf.
Anybody???
Not only that, but I expect a legless man shot down behind enemy lines would have a preety dismal chance of being recovered. Pilot training is expensive, and the men who receive it are very valuable to the service.
There was a pilot in WWI that flew with one leg missing and another leg mostly missing. He built some sort of artifical legs and was able to use them to pilot. He was regarded as being an excellent pilot. I wish I could remember his name and whether he flew for France or England.
But I agree with you Ptahlis. Back then if a pilot was shot down behind enemy lines he had very little chance of rescue. Today we put a lot more resources into recovering a pilot who is shot down behind enemy lines. A guy with artifical legs is more likely to be captured by the enemy then someone with legs.
The idea is that every member of the armed service should be capable of doing exactly what they are hired to do: fight.
That goes for the REMFs, too. Whether it was doughboys being tossed into grinder in France, headquarters staff getting banzaied at bloody Attu, Seabees using their tractor blades to block machine gun fire at Iwo, or the aforementioned truck drivers and desk jockeys at the Bulge, the past shows that the unpredictability of war can visit those who serve at virtually any time and any place. They are expected to be prepared. Right or wrong, that’s the Army Way, and it’s paid off in spades in the past.
That, however, does not mean that exceptions are not made, particularly for leaders. But sometimes those exceptions have not paid off as well as expected. Virtually every member of the high command of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was handicapped to some degree by the end of the Civil War. Of those leaders, at least three lieutenant generals–Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and “Old Baldy” Ewell are thought by many historians to have lost some of their ability after being wounded. The change in Ewell’s entire character after losing a leg is particularly notable. I believe that this phenomenon was consciously noted after the Civil War, and the concept of physical and mental fitness being inextricable has remained in the Armed Forces to this day. I’m not at all convinced that it is a bad idea.
And since it’s pretty well established that I’m going to Hell anyway, here’s some food for thought:
There are several examples of soldiers becoming handicapped and remaining in the military, but they had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they could perform just as well as a regular soldier. Both men were leg amputees. The most recent one is a Master Sergeant, who lost a leg but who proved that with an artificial one he could perform up to his previous peak.
Any handicapped in the military has to be able to match a regular soldier in action and performance.
The equal rights crap for the disabled is getting stupid. No wheelchair bound person can serve as well as a regular soldier and the military is probably not going to spend millions outfitting bases with handicapped facilities, putting in special seating in transports for wheel chairs, or equipping barracks with pull bars, special toilet and shower facilities or bunks with trapeze pulls.
Perhaps they could assist in the reserves, which remain in the States, but onboard a ship over seas, no one is going to make special adaptations for them. I feel comfortable with fit men and women, including amputees who meet the grade, to staff the military and face the enemy. How is a guy with a mechanical arm going to load a ships cannon? A man in a wheelchair might operate a tank, but who is going to drag him in and out of it and how is he going to assist with on site repairs? Do we wheel up a platoon of camouflaged wheel chairs to the trenches, anchor them in place and let them face the enemy with no hope of retreat? Maybe we’ll ask the enemy to wait before over running the position while we roll the disabled onto transports.
State side bases might possibly use some in areas like supply, inventory, food service or records but they could never be shipped over seas. No special consideration could be given them in the way of ramps, easy access, and so on.
This has got to be one of the most idiotic protests I’ve heard about in ages.
What’s next? The Blind demanding the right to fly fighter jets? The deaf wanting to handle communications? Maybe the schizophrenics will want to serve as bomb handlers, which ought to make things a whole lot more interesting.
Maybe they could just come up with special jobs for people with certain disabilities. Like people who cannot walk and are restricted to wheelchairs could be wired in to special tanks and such and work as transportation people. Those with terminal illness could be made into “smart bombs” and thus die in truly heroic fashion and save on medical and burial costs, plus they would scare the shit out of the enemy. For other ones that couldnt’ walk or move much you could strap them to a pole with night vision goggles on and make them into sentries or watch-people. Also a lot of people freeze up in combat when the time comes to actually have to kill someone, so maybe if they practiced on a real person beforehand (just the terminal ones. I’m not talking about being cruel here) it would prevent that. I think if these folks are willing to do this we should let them.
